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Jack London: An American Life
A revelatory look at the life of the great American author—and how it shaped his most beloved worksJack London was born a working-class, fatherless Californian in 1876. In his youth he was a boundlessly energetic adventurer on the bustling West Coast—by turns playing the role of hobo, sailor, prospector, and oyster pirate. He spent his brief life rapidly accumulating the experiences that would inform his acclaimed, bestselling books The Call of the Wild, White Fang, and The Sea Wolf. London was plagued by contradictions. He chronicled nature at its most savage but wept helplessly at the deaths of his favorite animals. At his peak as the highest-paid writer in America, he was nevertheless constantly broke. An irrepressibly optimistic crusader for social justice, he burned himself out at sick, angry, and disillusioned, but left behind a voluminous literary legacy, much of it ripe for rediscovery. In Jack London, the noted scholar Earle Labor explores the forgotten London—at once a hard-living globe-trotter and a man alive with ideas, whose passion for social justice roared until the day he died. Returning London to his proper place in the American pantheon, Labor resurrects a major American novelist in his full fire and glory.
1 pages, Audio CD
First published June 28, 2010
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April 13, 2016
"The greatest story Jack London ever wrote was the story he lived," stated critic Alfred Kazin, and his story, from rags to riches, is quintessentially American. EL Doctorow added that London "leapt on the history of his times like a man on the back of a horse" and, concludes bio author Earle Labor, a London scholar, he rode this horse from his childhood to his early death. Yes, London is all about fantastic adventure, heroism, fame, intense suffering -- and genius. This worthy bio is a sturdy documentation of a complex, and charismatic, individual. Overloaded with facts and trivias (Labor doesnt know what to leave out), it's also, at times, a slog to read.
Born out of wedlock and into poverty, London (1876-1916) grew up along the Oakland-San Francisco waterfront. In his teens he became an oyster pirate and then joined the crew of a sealing schooner in the north Pacific. His first published article, 1894, was "Typhoon Off the Coast of Japan." He joined the Gold Rush (1897-98) to the Klondike, spent time as a starving hobo and joined the Socialist Party. He found himself an acclaimed writer at age 24. This just grazes the surface of his "life," which is more startling than anything concocted for TV or movies.
Author Labor knows the London "serial," but tends to run all the events together, blurring the high and lows. Example: London and his second wife, Charmian, were awakened one morning on their ranch by the cataclysmic San Franciso earthquake of 1906. (He had been building a boat to sail around the world). Great columns of smoke were rising over the city. They got into SF and walked through the burning chaos. This is traumatic stuff. But 3 grafs later London is writing more short stories and horseback riding through the redwood forests.
Much later, after sailing to the Solomon Islands and having a run-in with cannibals who liked missionaries for dinner (read "The White Tooth"), London and crew slept at night w loaded rifles. They also coped w bouts of malaria, dysentery and ulcerating sores. London had ventured into scary territory. Why does it all read so matter-of-factly?
In 1913, after designing and building for 2 years his 15,000 sq foot dream house in Glen Ellen, Ca., in the Sonoma Valley, London was just getting ready to finally move into his palace. Then, zut, Labor tells us -- in one page -- that the house mysteriously went up in flames, just like Manderley in "Rebecca." Except this wasn't fiction ! "My face changed forever in that year," London told his wife. London was never the same after the fire -- well, I guess not (you can still see the remains in Glen Ellen or on Google) -- but Labor moves quickly along to a domestic issue. He has so much research material that ... he fails to "dramatize" his story.
Jack London's health crumpled...and he was dead in 1916, age 40. Did he overdose on morphine? Labor says this is a myth. His kidneys just shutdown. Hmmm....
Born out of wedlock and into poverty, London (1876-1916) grew up along the Oakland-San Francisco waterfront. In his teens he became an oyster pirate and then joined the crew of a sealing schooner in the north Pacific. His first published article, 1894, was "Typhoon Off the Coast of Japan." He joined the Gold Rush (1897-98) to the Klondike, spent time as a starving hobo and joined the Socialist Party. He found himself an acclaimed writer at age 24. This just grazes the surface of his "life," which is more startling than anything concocted for TV or movies.
Author Labor knows the London "serial," but tends to run all the events together, blurring the high and lows. Example: London and his second wife, Charmian, were awakened one morning on their ranch by the cataclysmic San Franciso earthquake of 1906. (He had been building a boat to sail around the world). Great columns of smoke were rising over the city. They got into SF and walked through the burning chaos. This is traumatic stuff. But 3 grafs later London is writing more short stories and horseback riding through the redwood forests.
Much later, after sailing to the Solomon Islands and having a run-in with cannibals who liked missionaries for dinner (read "The White Tooth"), London and crew slept at night w loaded rifles. They also coped w bouts of malaria, dysentery and ulcerating sores. London had ventured into scary territory. Why does it all read so matter-of-factly?
In 1913, after designing and building for 2 years his 15,000 sq foot dream house in Glen Ellen, Ca., in the Sonoma Valley, London was just getting ready to finally move into his palace. Then, zut, Labor tells us -- in one page -- that the house mysteriously went up in flames, just like Manderley in "Rebecca." Except this wasn't fiction ! "My face changed forever in that year," London told his wife. London was never the same after the fire -- well, I guess not (you can still see the remains in Glen Ellen or on Google) -- but Labor moves quickly along to a domestic issue. He has so much research material that ... he fails to "dramatize" his story.
Jack London's health crumpled...and he was dead in 1916, age 40. Did he overdose on morphine? Labor says this is a myth. His kidneys just shutdown. Hmmm....
July 21, 2014
Great read about an absolutely fascinating man. The one of the many things that struck me about this story was the time frame. I always thought London wrote later in the 20th Century. When you stop an think that the bulk of his works were published between 1900 and 1917, it give you pause. London died as Hemingway was going through the process of gathering the experiences that would later emerge as his famous novels and short stories. The other thing about this book is that it makes you want more. London led such a fascinating life that (in this case) I wished this book were several hundred pages longer.
March 10, 2019
Seriously, I think that Jack London did more in his short lifetime than most people do who live to old age!
March 14, 2014
Jack London was a great writer, and a heck of an adventurer, but not a terribly great human being. His life shows that there is often a tragic coincidence of talent and self-destructiveness that the talent then permits to proceed to its logical end. Jack London lived a hard life, partly by necessity, but largely by inclination, and he paid the price for it. He wrote at a terrific pace, leaving behind a rich literary legacy, but his terrible personal habits led to his untimely death at only 40. Think of what he could have written had he lived longer. At the same time, had he been another man, would he have been able to write as he did? It is a difficult quandary. This biography is a well-done attempt to capture a difficult subject, and its deficit is ultimately that Jack London is a difficult person to really get to know. I found him off-putting, and at the same time, I pitied him. He seemed to be striving for something he could not achieve, and to find that something in adventures that could never deliver what he needed. But every time I would start to really feel for him, he would reveal himself to be a jerk again. Nonetheless, this biography has convinced me that I need to read more of London's work. Whatever might have been lacking in the man is more than compensated in the end by what is in his writing.
February 18, 2023
Finally finished, close to a month after it was due for our book group meeting. I am sort of sorry to have read it. It was not an uplifting account of a life. Seemingly London never wrote for the love of writing. He did it to make money: money he usually spent before it was earned. He also paid others for story ideas. Not my idea of an honest writer. His Klondike writings were based on less than one season hunting for gold. So he had an active imagination. On the other hand the book kept my interest right to the end. You would have to make your own assessment of the famous writer.
May 7, 2014
Labor, Earle. Jack London: An American Life, Farrar, Straus and Giroux,
New York, 2013 (461pp. $30)
At the height of his fame in the early 1900’s, Jack London was earning ten thousand dollars a month from a variety of sources including royalties on his novels and non-fiction works, magazine serials and articles, journalism assignments and speaking engagements. He could have earned much more had he not been so roundly cheated at business, had he not been so profligate, and had foreign publishers not pirated his works freely as was the custom then. A member of the Socialist Party and an avowed advocate for the rights of working people, he lived high on the hog, building himself a luxury yacht aboard which he intended to sail around the world (he made it as far as the Solomon Islands) and erecting for himself and his wife a Xanadu-style stone mansion in Glen Ellen, California which burned to the ground before it could be inhabited, melting both the gold-plated bathroom fixtures and London’s own outlandish dreams.
He was always dead broke, on the run from creditors far and wide, borrowing money from his publisher against his future earnings, supporting his ex-wife, his two children, his mother and her sister, buying drinks for everyone in the saloon. Never failing to write at least one thousand words each morning after breakfast, he published in one-or-another of hundreds of national magazines an amazing amount of tripe, fluff, balderdash, dreck and hack-work, as well as two world-famous novels, a handful of unforgettable stories and a couple of tracts about the Poor and Downtrodden which would become classics, paving the way for Orwell and The New Journalism.
Earle Labor’s new book about London, subtitled “An American Life”, is an obvious labor of love (no pun intended). As curator of the Jack London Museum and Research Center in Shreveport and Emeritus Professor of American Literature at Centenary College of Louisiana, Labor is the acknowledged national authority on the life and work of London.
Labor’s work was graced by personal friendships with London’s two daughters, Joan and Becky, as well as his own discovery of Charmian London’s personal diaries in a safe at the “Cottage” in Sonoma, diaries that London’s wife herself called “disloyal” because of their intimate frankness. To these new sources were added a number of previously undiscovered London letters and discussions with the descendants of London’s bohemian friends in the Bay Area.
Abandoned by his father, Jack London grew up in poverty and was sent to work in the “pit” (as he called it) as a boy, an experience that, like Dickens before him, turned him against the bosses and set his mind on fire. Before age fifteen he’d become an Oyster Pirate on San Francisco Bay, stealing the delicacies owned by Railroad Monopolies before they could reach the plates of the rich. He joined the Fish Patrol at sixteen, journeyed as a cabin boy to Siberia to kill seals at seventeen, enrolled and left high school in Oakland, set pins in a bowling alley, and began to write, sending stories out to magazines at an amazing clip. He sold a few and was encouraged. Then, he sold one to the famous “Atlantic Monthly” and he was on his way.
His faults were many and Labor a sets out to “neither maximize nor minimize” them, but only to accept London on his own terms as a natural born seeker, a gifted artist of exceptional intelligence, sensitivity and personal charisma, a man driven by a Nietzschean outlook on life at a time when literature was stuck between Victorian romanticism and the Modernism that wouldn’t be born until after the War. Given that, we are saddled with an artist who was at times a drunken sorehead, a philanderer and occasional fool, but also a great friend, world traveler and visionary, who bore up under the burden of numerous illnesses and diseases with amazing patience. He loved his wife deeply except when he was with another woman.
On Sunday October 22, 1905, London was in Lawrence, Kansas to deliver a lecture titled “Revolution” to five hundred students and guests at the University Auditorium. The Kansas City Star reporter present at the scene acknowledged London’s compassion and humor. “Occasionally he drew a laugh from his audience; once or twice when he talked about the child labor of the Southern States a woman wept quietly. He is like his published portraits vitalized,” she wrote. “Personally he has great charm of manner. He is very youthful, ingenuous and friendly.”
Sadly, London died at age 40 from alcoholism and kidney failure. But like London’s lecture that faraway autumn, Labor’s book recalls the man himself with great charm of manner.
New York, 2013 (461pp. $30)
At the height of his fame in the early 1900’s, Jack London was earning ten thousand dollars a month from a variety of sources including royalties on his novels and non-fiction works, magazine serials and articles, journalism assignments and speaking engagements. He could have earned much more had he not been so roundly cheated at business, had he not been so profligate, and had foreign publishers not pirated his works freely as was the custom then. A member of the Socialist Party and an avowed advocate for the rights of working people, he lived high on the hog, building himself a luxury yacht aboard which he intended to sail around the world (he made it as far as the Solomon Islands) and erecting for himself and his wife a Xanadu-style stone mansion in Glen Ellen, California which burned to the ground before it could be inhabited, melting both the gold-plated bathroom fixtures and London’s own outlandish dreams.
He was always dead broke, on the run from creditors far and wide, borrowing money from his publisher against his future earnings, supporting his ex-wife, his two children, his mother and her sister, buying drinks for everyone in the saloon. Never failing to write at least one thousand words each morning after breakfast, he published in one-or-another of hundreds of national magazines an amazing amount of tripe, fluff, balderdash, dreck and hack-work, as well as two world-famous novels, a handful of unforgettable stories and a couple of tracts about the Poor and Downtrodden which would become classics, paving the way for Orwell and The New Journalism.
Earle Labor’s new book about London, subtitled “An American Life”, is an obvious labor of love (no pun intended). As curator of the Jack London Museum and Research Center in Shreveport and Emeritus Professor of American Literature at Centenary College of Louisiana, Labor is the acknowledged national authority on the life and work of London.
Labor’s work was graced by personal friendships with London’s two daughters, Joan and Becky, as well as his own discovery of Charmian London’s personal diaries in a safe at the “Cottage” in Sonoma, diaries that London’s wife herself called “disloyal” because of their intimate frankness. To these new sources were added a number of previously undiscovered London letters and discussions with the descendants of London’s bohemian friends in the Bay Area.
Abandoned by his father, Jack London grew up in poverty and was sent to work in the “pit” (as he called it) as a boy, an experience that, like Dickens before him, turned him against the bosses and set his mind on fire. Before age fifteen he’d become an Oyster Pirate on San Francisco Bay, stealing the delicacies owned by Railroad Monopolies before they could reach the plates of the rich. He joined the Fish Patrol at sixteen, journeyed as a cabin boy to Siberia to kill seals at seventeen, enrolled and left high school in Oakland, set pins in a bowling alley, and began to write, sending stories out to magazines at an amazing clip. He sold a few and was encouraged. Then, he sold one to the famous “Atlantic Monthly” and he was on his way.
His faults were many and Labor a sets out to “neither maximize nor minimize” them, but only to accept London on his own terms as a natural born seeker, a gifted artist of exceptional intelligence, sensitivity and personal charisma, a man driven by a Nietzschean outlook on life at a time when literature was stuck between Victorian romanticism and the Modernism that wouldn’t be born until after the War. Given that, we are saddled with an artist who was at times a drunken sorehead, a philanderer and occasional fool, but also a great friend, world traveler and visionary, who bore up under the burden of numerous illnesses and diseases with amazing patience. He loved his wife deeply except when he was with another woman.
On Sunday October 22, 1905, London was in Lawrence, Kansas to deliver a lecture titled “Revolution” to five hundred students and guests at the University Auditorium. The Kansas City Star reporter present at the scene acknowledged London’s compassion and humor. “Occasionally he drew a laugh from his audience; once or twice when he talked about the child labor of the Southern States a woman wept quietly. He is like his published portraits vitalized,” she wrote. “Personally he has great charm of manner. He is very youthful, ingenuous and friendly.”
Sadly, London died at age 40 from alcoholism and kidney failure. But like London’s lecture that faraway autumn, Labor’s book recalls the man himself with great charm of manner.
June 15, 2023
Not a good or very interesting read. Maybe I came in with the wrong expectations but when I read a biography about a writer, I want to learn about the stories/inspiration behind his best works. Instead, this one felt like a collection of random yarns and stories that just happened to mention some of the greatest books ever written. This was a slog for me
August 27, 2020
One of the most brilliant biographies ever written, this book touches not only the pieces of an adventurer and novelist but also a man filled with pride, a failed father and a taciturn being striving to maintain his voice in a world unable to hear his clearest voice. I am humbled. I am shamelessly crying into my hands.
March 22, 2015
As a teenager, I enjoyed Jack London's works, so I was delighted to find this very readable biography. Fascinating, authoritative life of Jack London, the author. Not a literary critique but a narration of his life, his rise from illegitimacy through many jobs such as oyster piracy, gold prospecting in the Klondike, as a sailor, as a hobo, his self education and prolific use of the public library, to fame and fortune with such books as The Call of the Wild, White Fang [London thought of this as Call of the Tame: a sort of mirror image], The Sea Wolf, other novels and many short stories. We go with him and his wife on their boat to an eye-opening trip to the South Seas. They ranch in California. Jack's ill health, neglected for years, and hard living, do him in at 40. Labor explodes many myths about London and shows how even the lowliest of his life experiences have influenced his work, many of which are now considered classics.
I got new insight into this man, appreciate his literary contributions more, but regret the unpleasant aspects of his personality. The biographer didn't try to sugar coat anything. There were copious quotations from London himself, his wife, and from others, which added to the authenticity.
I got new insight into this man, appreciate his literary contributions more, but regret the unpleasant aspects of his personality. The biographer didn't try to sugar coat anything. There were copious quotations from London himself, his wife, and from others, which added to the authenticity.
March 10, 2014
One of the better biographies I've read in recent years. I like the way Earle Labor frames an amazing and tragic story. Born to the hard way, London lived short and hard, driven by a huge need to experience life in all its twists and turns.
A hack writer? An adventurer? A fervent believer in the rights of people to work and live? A rancher and sailor and hobo and so much else?
So much I didn't know about London's short life; so much to learn and savor.
Being driven by discipline to write and huge need to make money to support all sorts of causes and adventures all over the world, Jack London was, like most intriguing people, a mass of contradiction.
Living in Maine, I liked that he visited and lectured here and that Mother Jones gave him a kiss in Boston.
Sure seems like he tried hard to work and absorb and write about all he saw, heard, grew and learned.
Too bad he just couldn't face his own falling down until it was too late.
So many intriguing people he knew and loved and hated.
So much credit due to his second wife, Charmian, who shared adventure and writing and sadness. And to his sister, Eliza Shepard.
And to all those who have treasured the huge scope of his work.
A hack writer? An adventurer? A fervent believer in the rights of people to work and live? A rancher and sailor and hobo and so much else?
So much I didn't know about London's short life; so much to learn and savor.
Being driven by discipline to write and huge need to make money to support all sorts of causes and adventures all over the world, Jack London was, like most intriguing people, a mass of contradiction.
Living in Maine, I liked that he visited and lectured here and that Mother Jones gave him a kiss in Boston.
Sure seems like he tried hard to work and absorb and write about all he saw, heard, grew and learned.
Too bad he just couldn't face his own falling down until it was too late.
So many intriguing people he knew and loved and hated.
So much credit due to his second wife, Charmian, who shared adventure and writing and sadness. And to his sister, Eliza Shepard.
And to all those who have treasured the huge scope of his work.
March 18, 2014
I learned A LOT about Jack London that I never knew. He was a fascinating, complicated man. It was an easy read, but I thought the author sometimes left out pieces of the puzzle as if I either should already know the information or it wasn't important. For example, at one point he mentions that London went into the hospital for surgery. Why? It's never explained. I also would have liked to read more about his most famous novels along the lines of how they were received and how they are perceived today. I felt like the author was more interested in delving into his lesser known works. Again, I'm glad I read it, and I will be rereading my favorite London books with a whole new perspective now.
December 28, 2013
One of the best biographies I read in 2013. Jack London lived his remarkable life full tilt and his own story is equal to the adventures in his books. His complicated personal life is as stormy as the seas he traveled. A prolific writer, he's truly a fascinating man who interjected his experiences into his works. If he had a theme song, it would be "My Way."
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December 24, 2013"Labor tells a remarkable story of a man of extraordinary conviction, whose ongoing legal battles with his first wife became the stuff of tabloid exposés."
Read more here.
Read more here.
November 21, 2014
I won this book in a Goodreads First Reads Giveaway...
This was a very fascinating story about a very fascinating man!! I enjoyed it very much!!!
This was a very fascinating story about a very fascinating man!! I enjoyed it very much!!!
September 6, 2017
As portrayed by Jack London scholar, Earle Labor, the author of 'Call of the Wild' was a thrill seeker to the point of recklessness. There were moments I thought while reading about London's antics, "Dude, take a chill pill." If he had lived in today's society, London would've likely been hang gliding over active volcanoes and bungee jumping out of supersonic jets. Serendipity and not necessarily skill kept him, in many instances, from an early death. He's lucky he lived to be friggin' forty.
Mr. Labor does a very good job of bringing Jack London to life. The author avoids getting into too much detail about London's works but uses very short excerpts from London's fictional stories to show how many of his personal beliefs made their way onto the written page. The subject matter lived during a time when radio and television did not exist. Author's were equivalent to rock-n-roll and movie stars of today. London couldn't go very many places without being recognized, celebrated, and pampered. Not bad for a teenager who started out in careers such as an oyster pirate, cannery worker, hobo, seal hunter, unjustified month-long prisoner at a penitentiary and his famous Alaskan Gold Rush efforts. Starvation, ungodly amounts of alcohol consumption, sex galore, and near-death experiences plagued London's youth. Once he was recognized as an author he continued his high-risk adventures in such ways as reporting on the Russo-Japanese War, living incognito in London, England's East End slums, and sailing on his own poorly-built boat the Snark into dangerous territory such as the Solomon Islands. The fact that London started out poor, then began raking in the big bucks but continually spent it faster than it was coming in was ironic to say the least. Moderation was not in the guy's vocabulary.
The book explains London's active fascination with Socialism, finding a like-minded companion in Charmian Kittredge, his love of reading, empathy with dogs, his substandard performance as a father, the philandering, alcoholism, and chronic depression. Mr. Labor also points out many of London's fine qualities such as his empathy for the poor and pursuit of various ways to improve the quality of life for all. The author does a fine job of explaining the times in which London lived and portrays his subject matter in all his complex glory. While reading the book I frequently thought of the author William Goldman's quote, "It is an accepted fact that all writers are crazy, even the normal ones are weird." London, in my humble opinion, reinforced that quote.
Mr. Labor does a very good job of bringing Jack London to life. The author avoids getting into too much detail about London's works but uses very short excerpts from London's fictional stories to show how many of his personal beliefs made their way onto the written page. The subject matter lived during a time when radio and television did not exist. Author's were equivalent to rock-n-roll and movie stars of today. London couldn't go very many places without being recognized, celebrated, and pampered. Not bad for a teenager who started out in careers such as an oyster pirate, cannery worker, hobo, seal hunter, unjustified month-long prisoner at a penitentiary and his famous Alaskan Gold Rush efforts. Starvation, ungodly amounts of alcohol consumption, sex galore, and near-death experiences plagued London's youth. Once he was recognized as an author he continued his high-risk adventures in such ways as reporting on the Russo-Japanese War, living incognito in London, England's East End slums, and sailing on his own poorly-built boat the Snark into dangerous territory such as the Solomon Islands. The fact that London started out poor, then began raking in the big bucks but continually spent it faster than it was coming in was ironic to say the least. Moderation was not in the guy's vocabulary.
The book explains London's active fascination with Socialism, finding a like-minded companion in Charmian Kittredge, his love of reading, empathy with dogs, his substandard performance as a father, the philandering, alcoholism, and chronic depression. Mr. Labor also points out many of London's fine qualities such as his empathy for the poor and pursuit of various ways to improve the quality of life for all. The author does a fine job of explaining the times in which London lived and portrays his subject matter in all his complex glory. While reading the book I frequently thought of the author William Goldman's quote, "It is an accepted fact that all writers are crazy, even the normal ones are weird." London, in my humble opinion, reinforced that quote.
November 2, 2025
Earle Labor’s Jack London: An American Life is a vivid and deeply researched portrait of one of America’s most restless literary figures. The biography captures London as a man of contradictions. He was a socialist who admired Nietzschean willpower, a champion of the working class who built wealth through the market, a romantic of nature who treated writing like factory labor.
What stands out is how fully London lived. He was an oyster pirate, sailor, gold prospector, war correspondent, political radical, and relentless writer who pounded out a thousand words a day. Yet London's adventures seem less glamorous than compulsive. It's as if he were racing against time or against his own frailty. Labor doesn’t sanitize London’s flaws (his racism, his chauvinism, his contradictions). Clearly, Jack London was a man torn between the call of human brotherhood and the hierarchies of his era.
At his best, London fused raw experience with moral urgency, producing enduring works like The Call of the Wild, The Sea-Wolf, Martin Eden (my personal favorite of his books), and The Mexican. Labor’s biography reminds us that London’s life was itself a kind of fiction (crafted, mythic, and self-consuming). He may have embodied the archetype of the writer as adventurer later taken up by Hemingway, but Labor shows that behind the myth was a man forever straining toward meaning, and perhaps, toward peace.
What stands out is how fully London lived. He was an oyster pirate, sailor, gold prospector, war correspondent, political radical, and relentless writer who pounded out a thousand words a day. Yet London's adventures seem less glamorous than compulsive. It's as if he were racing against time or against his own frailty. Labor doesn’t sanitize London’s flaws (his racism, his chauvinism, his contradictions). Clearly, Jack London was a man torn between the call of human brotherhood and the hierarchies of his era.
At his best, London fused raw experience with moral urgency, producing enduring works like The Call of the Wild, The Sea-Wolf, Martin Eden (my personal favorite of his books), and The Mexican. Labor’s biography reminds us that London’s life was itself a kind of fiction (crafted, mythic, and self-consuming). He may have embodied the archetype of the writer as adventurer later taken up by Hemingway, but Labor shows that behind the myth was a man forever straining toward meaning, and perhaps, toward peace.
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October 27, 2020A biography is a reality stitched into enjoyable narrative. But there are some biographies that pluck a lot from the life and those, those are not for entertainment, but for living.
Since probably the start of this year, or much before that, and if it is the latter, it goes back six months in the last year; since then, I have had a steady obsession with Jack London and his works. Obsession is too strong a word for it, but I have read enough short stories of his and the popular works as well, most of them. His intellect has been a good exercise to evolve my mental muscles into a higher state. And his writing has always been above par, be it the work that was considered substandard for him or not. And to finally complete reading his biography, a magnificent one, where he dies at the end of the book, which was expected, induced some odd feelings inside me.
I had glorified him enough and thought him a Spartan, which he was, but to learn through the book that he was liable to commit errors just as anyone else, in the throes of his mistaken invincibility, provided a comprehensive picture of the man I have been into the world of since a year now.
In the context of the man himself, I would say that this book is sure a gold plated bible for me, to return back to and learn from.
Since probably the start of this year, or much before that, and if it is the latter, it goes back six months in the last year; since then, I have had a steady obsession with Jack London and his works. Obsession is too strong a word for it, but I have read enough short stories of his and the popular works as well, most of them. His intellect has been a good exercise to evolve my mental muscles into a higher state. And his writing has always been above par, be it the work that was considered substandard for him or not. And to finally complete reading his biography, a magnificent one, where he dies at the end of the book, which was expected, induced some odd feelings inside me.
I had glorified him enough and thought him a Spartan, which he was, but to learn through the book that he was liable to commit errors just as anyone else, in the throes of his mistaken invincibility, provided a comprehensive picture of the man I have been into the world of since a year now.
In the context of the man himself, I would say that this book is sure a gold plated bible for me, to return back to and learn from.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 30, 2019
“That man of us is imperishable who makes his century imperishable. That man of us who seizes upon the salient facts of our life, who tells us what we thought, what we were, and for what we stood—that man shall be the mouthpiece to the centuries, and so long as they listen he shall endure.”
I vividly recall a night many years ago sitting next to a crackling fireplace at an inn not far from Jack London's ranch in Glen Ellen. I could not sleep so read his Tales of the Pacific into the wee hours of the morning. London's was a life worth emulating, though few could be be so bold. From very humble beginnings, and through many trials and setbacks, he lived his days to their fullest, never hesitating to light out for every conceivable adventure. When he met his life-mate Charmian Kittredge, the two would form a bond of love, friendship and exploration that would broaden his reach even more. At least through the eyes of this author, London's was a life to envy despite its brief duration. While I suspect that in less admiring hands, it would have been very easy to cast a much darker lens on his life, this book captures the vitality of this extraordinary man.
I vividly recall a night many years ago sitting next to a crackling fireplace at an inn not far from Jack London's ranch in Glen Ellen. I could not sleep so read his Tales of the Pacific into the wee hours of the morning. London's was a life worth emulating, though few could be be so bold. From very humble beginnings, and through many trials and setbacks, he lived his days to their fullest, never hesitating to light out for every conceivable adventure. When he met his life-mate Charmian Kittredge, the two would form a bond of love, friendship and exploration that would broaden his reach even more. At least through the eyes of this author, London's was a life to envy despite its brief duration. While I suspect that in less admiring hands, it would have been very easy to cast a much darker lens on his life, this book captures the vitality of this extraordinary man.
March 5, 2024
I listened to the audio book. I certainly got what I expected: an intimate and probing biography from a respected expert on Jack London. His daughters were interviewed, the diary and his wife's diary were perused - so the source was solid. I know the author is a well known academic who specializes in Jack London as I heard a very captivating podcast with him. My only beef is he touches ever so briefly on the ideas that inspired his work, including the impact of his time in Hawaii and reading Carl Jung. It might be unclear to any survivors, but it's not clear where he stood on his Socialist beliefs toward the end of his short life. I had no idea he reported on the Russo-Japanese war for Hearst. Another general drawback to any audiobook is that you want to see photos of the personages that figured so large in his life, as well as photos of him. That just means getting on the Internet and searching a bit. I learned a lot about Jack London though - he saw Jack Johnson fight in Australia! It made the 16 hours of driving go more quickly.
January 8, 2019
Holy cow, Jack London really lived. This is one of those books that made me want to flee Southern Indiana for the Bay and hoist the sail as I become King of Oyster Pirates, the title given Jack by the ruffians he rolled with.
He visited a leper colony in Hawaii.
He was a war correspondent during the Russo-Japanese War.
He made Klondike journeys in search for gold.
He took up surfing and even helped popularize the sport.
He saw the future in returning to agrarian ways, investing in eucalyptus trees and even inventing several farm machinery contraptions.
In short, I'm not sure I've read of anyone who did more with forty years than did Jack London. The most interesting dynamic might be his private life - he was a notorious philanderer and his letters to his daughter Joan were less than kind at times (Joan has a book of her own shedding light on the relationship between father and daughter).
Highly recommended.
He visited a leper colony in Hawaii.
He was a war correspondent during the Russo-Japanese War.
He made Klondike journeys in search for gold.
He took up surfing and even helped popularize the sport.
He saw the future in returning to agrarian ways, investing in eucalyptus trees and even inventing several farm machinery contraptions.
In short, I'm not sure I've read of anyone who did more with forty years than did Jack London. The most interesting dynamic might be his private life - he was a notorious philanderer and his letters to his daughter Joan were less than kind at times (Joan has a book of her own shedding light on the relationship between father and daughter).
Highly recommended.
May 23, 2023
I am an avid reader and I have read dozens of biographies from Edmund Morris's THE RISE OF THEODORE ROOSEVELT to Fawn Brodie's masterpiece THE DEVIL DRIVES. These were fantastic biographies on fascinating individuals. However, Labor's biography on London is, hands down, the best biography I have ever read.
It is a scholarly and erudite work, but also very accessible to all types of readers. It is riveting and a page turner and even people that are not interested in Jack London will not want to put it down. Labor is a great writer and one will learn a ton by reading this great book. It is both an education and an adventure, as was the life of Jack London.
I cannot laud or recommend this book enough. If you are only slightly interested, I urge you to get it. This is a very special book about a very special man.
It is a scholarly and erudite work, but also very accessible to all types of readers. It is riveting and a page turner and even people that are not interested in Jack London will not want to put it down. Labor is a great writer and one will learn a ton by reading this great book. It is both an education and an adventure, as was the life of Jack London.
I cannot laud or recommend this book enough. If you are only slightly interested, I urge you to get it. This is a very special book about a very special man.
Read
November 27, 2023I picked this up to better understand the writer's movements in San Francisco. Overall, it is a well-written book, and it certainly covers the key ideas and moments of Jack London's life. I'll let the people who know his work and other biographies tell you how accurate Labor was in his portrait. I wouldn't have minded some historical context and development of the world in which London was writing.
This was never the first book I picked up off the stack I was reading and had to push through this one a bit. Recommended for people who are passionate about Jack London's writing (which I am not).
This was never the first book I picked up off the stack I was reading and had to push through this one a bit. Recommended for people who are passionate about Jack London's writing (which I am not).
February 21, 2024
After two visits to Jack London Sate Park in Sonoma, I decided to read Jack London's biography. Well written adventure filled book by a writer who wrote 1000-2000 words a day all his brief life. His idea of a man included over indulging in dangerous sports and substances - cigarettes and booze to excess. he was also constantly in debt so the stress of keeping up with his grand lifestyle cost him dearly and he dies at age 40. Charmian his devoted wife for 11 years was a wonderful companion in his travels to the Pacific Islands and his plans for a grand ranch in the Valley of the Moon. Enjoyed the book and need to now read some London books.
October 30, 2013
The first thing that hits one about Jack's life is: how in heck did he survive his early years? From the poverty, to the cannery work, to the attempt to learn electricity, to the summer in the laundry, to riding the rails, to the march with Kelly, to the Klondike, to the oyster pirating, to the fish patrolling, to the sealing, to the spending four hours in the Carquinez strait without a boat--he faced so many opportunities to die that, if his life hadn't caused him so much suffering, one would be forced to say it was charmed.
Thank you Earle Labor for giving Anna Strunsky her proper place in Jack's life. Finally, this woman for whom some of the world's most achingly, beautiful love letters were written (by Jack), is given life and substance.
I must confess, though--I am a Charmian "disliker" and this biography has made her more clear to me and so has increased my dislike.
Who did Jack love more--Anna or Charmian? This is a question the two women supposedly frequently raised with each other. Each claimed she was the one, of course. Because these two were so different, and treated Jack so differently, however, I don't think this question can be answered. As to who loved Jack more, I think--supported by this book--it was Anna.
Would Charmian have given Jack the time of day if he had not been a famous writer when they began their affair? Most likely she would have never even met him since he would have been too "low class" for her. And while Anna was driven by her own desires to create and to right the wrongs imposed upon the masses, Charmian's goal in life feels as if it was to get a man who could keep her in, at least, the lower upper class. Therefore her life's work was simply to snare such a man and then to be whatever he needed her to be, do what ever he wanted her to do, so that she would keep him.
Was it Jack she valued, or the being Mrs. Jack?
With Anna, her emotional and physical inexperience with relationships, let alone with something as powerful as the over riding passion she and Jack were feeling at the time of the botched proposal, kept her from "flinging her arms about his neck" when we--sitting comfortably so many years in the future, wish she would have. Anna's unreadiness for what Jack was offering, coupled with a similar inexperience (with "nice" girls like Anna) in Jack, and they were doomed.
Charmian, in contrast, seems to have had a cooler head, perhaps from her years of experience with other men, her five years of maturity on Jack, and the dialed down intensity of her feeling for Jack.
Also re these women: Does anyone really think Charmian would have gone on a Snark-like voyage without Jack? Probably this was not something she would prefer to do, yet ignoring her own preferences she goes along.
When jack and Charmian are in the Solomon Islands, Labor quotes Charmian as saying that something she seldom attempts is to coax her husband. From this it seems likely that if Charmian rarely coaxed her husband, she probably--also rarely--brought him along on adventures she wanted to take that weren't that interesting to him and, likely, rarely opposed his plans--no matter how far out and wild they were. Strangely, she does not even caution her husband against placing inappropriate trust in people whom she would have been expected to know well: the aunt who raised her and the aunt's husband, both of whom fail Jack during the Snark voyage.
Differing from Charmian, Anna has places she wants to go (e.g. Russia) and she goes. Also, her relationship with Jack was one of give and take, she often asked him to do things--like become her writing mentor--and the whole Kempton-Wace Letters thing arises because they do not agree, Anna does not go along with Jack's view of love. The result is a better Jack as Anna is able to persuade him to her way of thinking.
With the Snark adventure it is again amazing--despite a boat that was falling apart, crew members that were failing, weeks of debilitating sea sickness, yaws--malaria--lupus--and more at the same time, exposure to TB and leprosy, a close call with a volcanic island, electrical storms, failure of the engine, becalmed days, a dangerous loss of drinking water and vulture-like head hunters--Jack survives.
Further, Jack's life reads like something on fast forward, everything is rush, all must be done right now, until he becomes depressed and then wallows for awhile. I'm definitely in the--he probably was bipolar/manic-depressive--camp.
Understandably, a primary source for the biography was Charmian's diary. From these writings the story becomes a bit more about her and how she sees Jack, than about Jack, which probably can't be helped since her eyewitness glimpses of his life are valuable. It also appears, that by the end of Jack's life Charmian's life seems to have become embedded with his while, at the same time, his blaze out--like that of a super nova--is singeing her via stress and anxiety.
A big take away from this book: how much Jack influenced the world we live in. He shined a light on--extreme poverty and the need for better social services, the crime of child labor, the fun of surfing, the need for an Association for the cruelty of animals, the birth of the Soviet Union which, in turn, kept society in the United States relatively equitable, economically, throughout the existence of the Soviet Union.
Overall, finally a coherent account of all elements of Jack's life. I've heard that the original manuscript was much larger than the resulting 385 pages. Too bad, I would have read them all.
Thank you Earle Labor for giving Anna Strunsky her proper place in Jack's life. Finally, this woman for whom some of the world's most achingly, beautiful love letters were written (by Jack), is given life and substance.
I must confess, though--I am a Charmian "disliker" and this biography has made her more clear to me and so has increased my dislike.
Who did Jack love more--Anna or Charmian? This is a question the two women supposedly frequently raised with each other. Each claimed she was the one, of course. Because these two were so different, and treated Jack so differently, however, I don't think this question can be answered. As to who loved Jack more, I think--supported by this book--it was Anna.
Would Charmian have given Jack the time of day if he had not been a famous writer when they began their affair? Most likely she would have never even met him since he would have been too "low class" for her. And while Anna was driven by her own desires to create and to right the wrongs imposed upon the masses, Charmian's goal in life feels as if it was to get a man who could keep her in, at least, the lower upper class. Therefore her life's work was simply to snare such a man and then to be whatever he needed her to be, do what ever he wanted her to do, so that she would keep him.
Was it Jack she valued, or the being Mrs. Jack?
With Anna, her emotional and physical inexperience with relationships, let alone with something as powerful as the over riding passion she and Jack were feeling at the time of the botched proposal, kept her from "flinging her arms about his neck" when we--sitting comfortably so many years in the future, wish she would have. Anna's unreadiness for what Jack was offering, coupled with a similar inexperience (with "nice" girls like Anna) in Jack, and they were doomed.
Charmian, in contrast, seems to have had a cooler head, perhaps from her years of experience with other men, her five years of maturity on Jack, and the dialed down intensity of her feeling for Jack.
Also re these women: Does anyone really think Charmian would have gone on a Snark-like voyage without Jack? Probably this was not something she would prefer to do, yet ignoring her own preferences she goes along.
When jack and Charmian are in the Solomon Islands, Labor quotes Charmian as saying that something she seldom attempts is to coax her husband. From this it seems likely that if Charmian rarely coaxed her husband, she probably--also rarely--brought him along on adventures she wanted to take that weren't that interesting to him and, likely, rarely opposed his plans--no matter how far out and wild they were. Strangely, she does not even caution her husband against placing inappropriate trust in people whom she would have been expected to know well: the aunt who raised her and the aunt's husband, both of whom fail Jack during the Snark voyage.
Differing from Charmian, Anna has places she wants to go (e.g. Russia) and she goes. Also, her relationship with Jack was one of give and take, she often asked him to do things--like become her writing mentor--and the whole Kempton-Wace Letters thing arises because they do not agree, Anna does not go along with Jack's view of love. The result is a better Jack as Anna is able to persuade him to her way of thinking.
With the Snark adventure it is again amazing--despite a boat that was falling apart, crew members that were failing, weeks of debilitating sea sickness, yaws--malaria--lupus--and more at the same time, exposure to TB and leprosy, a close call with a volcanic island, electrical storms, failure of the engine, becalmed days, a dangerous loss of drinking water and vulture-like head hunters--Jack survives.
Further, Jack's life reads like something on fast forward, everything is rush, all must be done right now, until he becomes depressed and then wallows for awhile. I'm definitely in the--he probably was bipolar/manic-depressive--camp.
Understandably, a primary source for the biography was Charmian's diary. From these writings the story becomes a bit more about her and how she sees Jack, than about Jack, which probably can't be helped since her eyewitness glimpses of his life are valuable. It also appears, that by the end of Jack's life Charmian's life seems to have become embedded with his while, at the same time, his blaze out--like that of a super nova--is singeing her via stress and anxiety.
A big take away from this book: how much Jack influenced the world we live in. He shined a light on--extreme poverty and the need for better social services, the crime of child labor, the fun of surfing, the need for an Association for the cruelty of animals, the birth of the Soviet Union which, in turn, kept society in the United States relatively equitable, economically, throughout the existence of the Soviet Union.
Overall, finally a coherent account of all elements of Jack's life. I've heard that the original manuscript was much larger than the resulting 385 pages. Too bad, I would have read them all.
August 28, 2022
Tiks is a thorough, well researched biography of a remarkable artist. The author captures the early days, through the success and failures of adult life, and the amazing true life adventures experienced Jack London. The book details the end of Jack's life. I have visited Jack London State Park in Sonoma county. I also visited Luther Burbank house in Santa Rosa. This book told me the story I wanted to know. I recommend if you have any curiosity about one of the most well-known American writers ever.
September 23, 2022
A scholarly book that is also interesting for the masses. Told of his life, career, and loves. His relationship with his daughters focus is mostly on Joan. Would’ve like to hear about the other daughter. Talked a lot about his work ethic and that he sometimes paid beginning writers for ideas but seemed like it was something he could do to help them on their way. For all his vim and vigor, he didn’t take very good care of himself.
I have more questions about those around him and their attitudes then London. Now I have to read more of his works.
I have more questions about those around him and their attitudes then London. Now I have to read more of his works.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 16, 2024
I have read a few of Jack London's stories (Call of the Wild; White Fang) but I didn't know his life story. Labor does a good job in capturing the spirit, motivations, and experiences that made London the most popular writer of his time -- 1895-1915. I learned a lot about London's short stories, newspaper articles, serialized novels and especially the relationships with others that made him who he was. He did at a young age, under 40, due to poor health, bad teeth and alcoholism. It would have been interesting to see what he would have evolved into as a writer in his 50's and 60's.
January 23, 2024
Biography of jack london by a scholar dedicated to studying London. Great detail to place historic time influences into story. Interesting to see the bay area and attitudes of the time.
Recommended by a docent at the jack london gift shop at his farm/house, now state park.
(A small comment in the middle mentions he might have had lupus (hence always quick to illness, fevers), and died from failing kidneys which the mercury tincture for treating something in south pacific also injures kidneys).
Recommended by a docent at the jack london gift shop at his farm/house, now state park.
(A small comment in the middle mentions he might have had lupus (hence always quick to illness, fevers), and died from failing kidneys which the mercury tincture for treating something in south pacific also injures kidneys).
September 5, 2019
3.5 Stars
After reading about JL at a National Park Visitors Center in Skagway, Alaska, I decided that it was time to read this book.
He certainly was an interesting person, and not always interesting in a good way. He lived a hard life, and not just poverty, and in the end that's what shortened his life. Very fascinating read.
After reading about JL at a National Park Visitors Center in Skagway, Alaska, I decided that it was time to read this book.
He certainly was an interesting person, and not always interesting in a good way. He lived a hard life, and not just poverty, and in the end that's what shortened his life. Very fascinating read.
July 30, 2020
Nicely done on London and his wife Charmain. Not only a tribute to them, but to Labor's devotion to them. Grew up with the classic illustrated comics which led me to Call of the Wild and White Fang. Have to wonder about his influence on Hemingway and Edgar Rice Burroughs - just to mention those two. 1876 - 1916 such a tumultuous era with so many larger than life men and women.
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